Through Welsh Government funded support for sustainable public sector procurement, WRAP Cymru has developed new guidance on Ethical and Sustainable Textile Procurement.
The Welsh Government has ambitious goals to become a zero-waste, net-zero country by 2050.
This guide aims to help public procurers achieve sustainable and ethical outcomes in their procurement of textiles, by providing step-by-step guidance through each stage of the procurement process. It also provides examples of model wording that can be used for supplier selection, technical specification, evaluation and award criteria, and contract monitoring and KPIs.
Background
With procured goods and services representing up to 70% of a public body’s carbon emissions, driving sustainability across the sector is vital to Wales’ ability to achieve net zero. Textile clothing represent an area of high environmental impact and procuring these items in a more sustainable way can help Welsh public bodies meet their statutory commitments and sustainability and environmental goals. It is estimated that the production of textiles represents up to 10% of global carbon emissions. But it’s not just production – textile waste sent to landfill is harmful too, with an estimated £140m worth of clothing sent to landfill in the UK each year, composed of:
- The 90% of professional clothing not recycled/re-used annually (WRAP Corporate Arisings Report, 2012).
- Over 920,000 tonnes of textile products are disposed of in the residual waste stream in the UK annually and 620,000 tonnes of used textiles collected for re-use and recycling (WRAP 2019).
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DownloadGuidance on Ethical and Sustainable Textile Procurement for Public Sector Buyers
PDF, 5.96 MB